Battery health is a term I had never heard before. Maybe that's why I always seem kill batteries faster than anyone I know. My laptops and cell phones always find ways to kick the bucket after only a year of life or so, while my friend's lithium ion batteries are still holding at least half their charge for similar models. Then I heard about this thing called battery health, which at first made me chuckle. I thought it was a joke, batteries being likened to humans, whose habits are often the determining factor in how healthy they are. How can a battery be unhealthy, I thought? Before I heard of battery health, I had thought I just kept getting lemons... Sickly, infectious batteries that don't know how to keep their charge. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. The problem I've found, lies with me :( Apparently there are certain practices a person must employ in order to keep their battery healthy. Go figure. They're listed below... six easy to follow steps that when you employ, will greatly increase the life of your lithium ion battery, and give your battery the health it deserves!!

Laptop batteries and any kind of lithium ion batteries are EXPENSIVE, and they probably aren't going to drop in price too soon. Here are some tips on how to maximize battery health so you don't, like me have to keep dropping $100 a pop for new lithium ion batteries.

Tip 1) You actually have to use your battery. Sounds simple and stupid, I know. But when I first started using laptops, I just left it plugged in all the time. But a battery, in this way, is just like a body. It needs exercise from time to time.

Tip 2) Fully drain and fully charge the battery every two to three weeks. This shouldn't be that difficult to do. For some reason that I haven't figured out, batteries like to occasionally be taken to the edge.

Tip 3) Fully charge a new battery before using it. This is a tip most all of us already know. New batteries need to be broken in, just like a car engine, before using normally.

Tip 4) If you're ever not going to use your battery for a long period of time (let's say 3 weeks), take it out of the laptop and store it somewhere cold. That way, it won't just waste away in your laptop. This is a tip that I should have done a long time ago instead of just leaving the battery in the computer while running the cord from the wall.

Tip 5) Stay away from extreme temperatures. This isn't just for the health of your battery. This is for the health of your whole laptop. Don't leave your laptops in places like cars. Just don't

Tip 6) There are some pretty good computer programs out there that maximize and monitor the health of your battery, letting you know exactly how healthy it is and when it's expected to decline. This is just one example of a computer program that monitors battery health.